hogewashhttps://hogewash.com
Never pick a fight with a man who buys pixels by the terabyte.Thu, 14 Dec 2017 00:06:17 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pnghogewashhttps://hogewash.com
Are You Pondering What I’m Pondering?https://hogewash.com/2017/12/13/are-you-pondering-what-im-pondering-2922/
https://hogewash.com/2017/12/13/are-you-pondering-what-im-pondering-2922/#respondWed, 13 Dec 2017 17:00:52 +0000http://hogewash.com/?p=54799]]>I think so, Brain … but we’re not from Alabama, so they can’t blame us for any part of it.]]>https://hogewash.com/2017/12/13/are-you-pondering-what-im-pondering-2922/feed/0wjjhogeCognitive Dissonance: Broadcast Editionhttps://hogewash.com/2017/12/13/cognitive-dissonance-broadcast-edition/
https://hogewash.com/2017/12/13/cognitive-dissonance-broadcast-edition/#commentsWed, 13 Dec 2017 16:31:25 +0000http://hogewash.com/?p=54805Continue reading →]]>During this morning’s drive to work, I heard a story on an NPR newscast about the shortage of resources to feed starving children in Africa. It was immediately followed by a sponsorship announcement for a chain of grocery stores and the chain’s Christmas cookies.]]>https://hogewash.com/2017/12/13/cognitive-dissonance-broadcast-edition/feed/3wjjhogeStrange Bedfellowshttps://hogewash.com/2017/12/13/strange-bedfellows/
https://hogewash.com/2017/12/13/strange-bedfellows/#commentsWed, 13 Dec 2017 12:47:17 +0000http://hogewash.com/?p=54801Continue reading →]]>There’s an old saying about politics making strange bedfellows which seeks to explain how some straight-laced conservative folks could vote for a vulgar showman rather than his corrupt opponent and other conservatives would vote for the corrupt candidate instead.

It now seems that saying is being turned on its head—that the existence of a politician’s strange bedfellows (or even the failed attempts at having them) is becoming a key deciding factor in several careers.

Proverbs 5:18, 19 is good advice.

]]>https://hogewash.com/2017/12/13/strange-bedfellows/feed/13wjjhogeAn X-Ray View of a Supernova Remnanthttps://hogewash.com/2017/12/13/an-x-ray-view-of-a-supernova-remnant/
https://hogewash.com/2017/12/13/an-x-ray-view-of-a-supernova-remnant/#commentsWed, 13 Dec 2017 11:07:32 +0000http://hogewash.com/?p=54792Continue reading →]]>Cassiopeia A (Cas A) is one of the most intensely studied supernova remnants. This false color image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory shows the location of different elements in the remains of the explosion: silicon (red), sulfur (yellow), calcium (green), and iron (purple). Each of those elements produces X-rays within narrow energy ranges, allowing maps of their location to be created. The blue outer ing is supernova’s.

All the elements more complex that hydrogen and helium are forged by fusion in stars, and all the elements further up the periodic table than iron are produced by supernovae. This Chandra data indicate that the Cas A supernova churned out massive amounts of key cosmic ingredients. Cas A produced about 10,000 Earth masses worth of sulfur alone and around 20,000 Earth masses of silicon. The iron in Cas A has the mass of about 70,000 times that of the Earth, but oxygen is the clear winner with one million Earth masses of it being ejected into space from Cas A. That’s about three times the mass of the Sun. However, we can’t “see” any oxygen in this Chandra image. Even though oxygen is the most abundant element in Cas A, its X-ray emissions are spread across a wide range of energies and cannot be isolated in this image.

Image Credit: NASA

]]>https://hogewash.com/2017/12/13/an-x-ray-view-of-a-supernova-remnant/feed/2wjjhogeTeam Kimberlin Post of the Dayhttps://hogewash.com/2017/12/13/team-kimberlin-post-of-the-day-1734/
https://hogewash.com/2017/12/13/team-kimberlin-post-of-the-day-1734/#commentsWed, 13 Dec 2017 05:02:51 +0000http://hogewash.com/?p=54785Continue reading →]]>The Dread Deadbeat Pirate/Performer/Pedo/Pro-Se/Publisher Kimberlin’s multi-year campaign of lawfare has had the net effect of crushing what little influence he had on the Internet. That collapse had already begun in 2014 after he lost the first of his brass knuckle reputation management lawsuits agains Aaron Walker, Stacy McCain, Ali Akbar, and me. Here’s the TKPOTD from three years ago today.

* * * * *

The website that The Dread Publisher Kimberlin operates for the Velvet Revolution dot US not-for-profit carries stories about important topics. Its impact on the world of ideas is shown by the reply comments generated. As of midnight last night, the site’s front page shows:

CONSERVATIVE STANCE IN DOE WRANGLING COMES DOWN TO ONE SIMPLISTIC, WRONG-HEADED, SELF-SERVING ARGUMENT—nada

SLAVYANSK FAMILIES FIND SHELTER IN UKRAINE MONASTERY—zilch

UKRAINE SHOWDOWN TO SHADOW OBAMA IN EUROPE—bupkis

RUSSIA PUSHES BACK UKRAINE GAS CUT ULTIMATUM—nothing

NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MARRIAGE BROKE CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAW—zzzz

OBAMA TO MEET UKRAINE’S POROSHENKO—[crickets]

UKRAINE FORCES SUFFER NEW LOSSES IN SEPARATIST EAST—nary a comment

All of which pretty well summarizes TDPK’s clout in the real world. When a left-wing site can’t get at least one moonbat to comment favorably on a snarky attack on Ted Cruz, …

#Loser.

* * * * *

His main websites now have so little traffic that he can’t even get comments from members of Team Kimberlin. The Velvet Revolution site is essentially dead. The newest post are datelined 2016.The freshest material at the Justice Through Music Project website is from early November.And, as of the time this post was drafted, even the Breitbart UnmaskedBunnyBilly Boy Brett Unread site hasn’t been updated since it seems that “Staff Writer” was reined in for calling to much attention to the problem of older men hitting on underage girls.TDPK started his lawfare to keep the public from hearing damaging—but truthful—information about himself. Just as his previous schemes to import dope or distract the police from a criminal investigation, his lawfare has blown up in his face.

If you take a bale of hay and tie it to the tail of a mule and then strike a match and set the bale of hay on fire, and if you then compare the energy expended shortly thereafter by the mule with the energy expended by yourself in the striking of the match, you will understand the concept of amplification.

—William Shockley

]]>https://hogewash.com/2017/12/13/quote-of-the-day-2179/feed/0wjjhogeAre You Pondering What I’m Pondering?https://hogewash.com/2017/12/12/are-you-pondering-what-im-pondering-2921/
https://hogewash.com/2017/12/12/are-you-pondering-what-im-pondering-2921/#commentsTue, 12 Dec 2017 17:00:30 +0000http://hogewash.com/?p=54779]]>I think so, Brain … but lots of toons have a giant red spot for a nose.]]>https://hogewash.com/2017/12/12/are-you-pondering-what-im-pondering-2921/feed/1wjjhogeThe Great Red Spot Plungehttps://hogewash.com/2017/12/12/the-great-red-spot-plunge/
https://hogewash.com/2017/12/12/the-great-red-spot-plunge/#commentsTue, 12 Dec 2017 11:02:59 +0000http://hogewash.com/?p=54777Continue reading →]]>Here is NASA’s description of this video: This animation takes the viewer on a simulated flight into, and then out of, Jupiter’s upper atmosphere at the location of the Great Red Spot. It was created by combining an image from the JunoCam imager on NASA’s Juno spacecraft with a computer-generated animation. The perspective begins about 2,000 miles (3,000 kilometers) above the cloud tops of the planet’s southern hemisphere. The bar at far left indicates altitude during the quick descent; a second gauge next to that depicts the dramatic increase in temperature that occurs as the perspective dives deeper down. The clouds turn crimson as the perspective passes through the Great Red Spot. Finally, the view ascends out of the spot.

I admire Bono, and not just because he’s a good musician. I also respect the social activism that is grounded in his Christian faith.

The Dread Performer Kimberlin has taken to bad mouthing Bono over at the jtmp dot org website. (I read it so you don’t have to—even though my doing so probably doubles their legitimate web traffic.) You see, Bono wants to help feed the hungry in Africa, and he’s willing to partner with companies such as Monsanto in the process. Monsanto, of course, must be evil because they are a purveyor of GMO seeds. Bono, Brett would have us believe, is “selling out.”

Brett Kimberlin and his organizations oppose “Frankenfoods.” They would prefer to have upwards of a half-million children die each year from vitamin A deficiency rather than have golden rice available in poor countries. They would rather Africans starve than let them plant insect- or blight-resistance corn.

OTOH, poor Asian and African kids aren’t likely to hit a donate button on a JTMP or Velvet Revolution dot US webpage, whereas there may be a few anti-science moonbats who still donate.

Follow the money.

* * * * *

Gentle Reader, if you read The Dread Deadbeat Pro-Se Kimberlin’s LOLsuits, you’ll probably come to the same conclusion I did: Kimberlin instigated his campaign of lawfare in an attempt to prevent the donors to his not-for-profits from finding out who they were really supporting.

I don’t believe his brsss knuckles reputation management has worked out as he had hoped. OTOH, everything is proceeding as I have foreseen.

Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact.

—George Eliot

]]>https://hogewash.com/2017/12/12/quote-of-the-day-2178/feed/0wjjhogeProgramming Announcementhttps://hogewash.com/2017/12/11/programming-announcement-39/
https://hogewash.com/2017/12/11/programming-announcement-39/#commentsMon, 11 Dec 2017 18:29:45 +0000http://hogewash.com/?p=54772]]>Meanwhile, back in the Real World—I’ve been busier than a one-armed paperhanger dealing with engineering for pay and haven’t had time to finish the next Johnny Atsign episode. I should have it done for next week, so stay tuned.]]>https://hogewash.com/2017/12/11/programming-announcement-39/feed/8wjjhogeAre You Pondering What I’m Pondering?https://hogewash.com/2017/12/11/are-you-pondering-what-im-pondering-2920/
https://hogewash.com/2017/12/11/are-you-pondering-what-im-pondering-2920/#respondMon, 11 Dec 2017 17:00:07 +0000http://hogewash.com/?p=54770]]>I think so, Brain … but wouldn’t the smell propagate through the heating ducts?]]>https://hogewash.com/2017/12/11/are-you-pondering-what-im-pondering-2920/feed/0wjjhogeThe Cat’s Paw Nebulahttps://hogewash.com/2017/12/11/the-cats-paw-nebula/
https://hogewash.com/2017/12/11/the-cats-paw-nebula/#commentsMon, 11 Dec 2017 11:00:17 +0000http://hogewash.com/?p=54761Continue reading →]]>The Cat’s Paw Nebula (aka NGC 6334) lies in the constellation of Scorpius (The Scorpion). It is relatively near to Earth, at a distance of about 5500 light-years on line with the center of the galaxy. It is about 50 light-years across and is one of the most active star formation regions in the Milky Way, containing young, massive blue stars which are only a few million years old. It is made up of tens of thousands of stars, some of them visible and some hidden in clouds of gas and dust.

Image Credit: ESO / R. Gendler & R.M. Hannahoe

]]>https://hogewash.com/2017/12/11/the-cats-paw-nebula/feed/1wjjhogecat's pawTeam Kimberlin Post of the Dayhttps://hogewash.com/2017/12/11/team-kimberlin-post-of-the-day-1732/
https://hogewash.com/2017/12/11/team-kimberlin-post-of-the-day-1732/#commentsMon, 11 Dec 2017 05:02:29 +0000http://hogewash.com/?p=54758Continue reading →]]>They say that history doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme. This past weekend was a bit like three years ago when it seemed like I Must Not Be Very Interesting.

Thermodynamics is a funny subject. The first time you go through it, you don’t understand it at all. The second time you go through it, you think you understand it, except for one or two small points. The third time you go through it, you know you don’t understand it, but by that time you are so used to it, it doesn’t bother you any more.

—Arnold Sommerfeld

]]>https://hogewash.com/2017/12/11/quote-of-the-day-2177/feed/2wjjhogeWell, Since You Asked …https://hogewash.com/2017/12/10/well-since-you-asked/
https://hogewash.com/2017/12/10/well-since-you-asked/#commentsMon, 11 Dec 2017 02:41:27 +0000http://hogewash.com/?p=54765Continue reading →]]>Someone has posted a set of questions that an intersectional feminist should ask on a first date. Now that I’m a widower, I suppose I may ask a lady out for a date one of these days, but I doubt that I would find an intersectional feminist attractive. However, I’ve decided to post my answers to the questions.

Here goes—

1. Do you believe that Black Lives Matter? No more than any other lives.

2. What are your thoughts on gender and sexual orientation? Gender is a property of nouns and pronouns—but not living organisms. Proper sexual orientation is the acceptance of the fact one’s sex as determined by one’s DNA.

3. How do you work to dismantle sexism and misogyny in your life? I try to practice the good manners my mother taught me.

4. What are your thoughts on sex work? It’s sinful.

5. Are you a supporter of the BDS movement? Of course not. I’m a gentile Zionist.

6. What is your understanding of settler colonialism and indigenous rights? I wonder if countries such as Zimbabwe might be more prosperous and have freer political systems in the colonial powers had spent another generation or two in transitioning colonies to self-sufficiency and had redrawn boundaries in harmony with the ethnicities of the indigenous peoples.

7. Do you think capitalism is exploitative? All human economic systems are exploitive, but market capitalism seems to provide the best long-term results for the largest number of folks.

8. Can any human be illegal? No, but a person’s acts may be.

9. Do you support Muslim Americans and non-Muslim people from Islamic countries? Support them in what? Be more specific with your question.

10. Does your allyship include disabled folks? Allyship? Ah, a new buzzword. Look, disabled folks need to be allowed to be as fully engaged in society as they are able. OTOH, they need to accept realistic limitations on what they can do. Or do you favor granting driver’s licenses to the blind?

]]>https://hogewash.com/2017/12/10/well-since-you-asked/feed/12wjjhogeAnother One Bites The Dusthttps://hogewash.com/2017/12/10/another-one-bites-the-dust-13/
https://hogewash.com/2017/12/10/another-one-bites-the-dust-13/#commentsSun, 10 Dec 2017 17:03:29 +0000http://hogewash.com/?p=54755]]>Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen.]]>https://hogewash.com/2017/12/10/another-one-bites-the-dust-13/feed/20wjjhogeAre You Pondering What I’m Pondering?https://hogewash.com/2017/12/10/are-you-pondering-what-im-pondering-2919/
https://hogewash.com/2017/12/10/are-you-pondering-what-im-pondering-2919/#commentsSun, 10 Dec 2017 17:00:58 +0000http://hogewash.com/?p=54750]]>I think so, Brain … but even if all the raccoons have ice skates, the lake may not freeze over in time.]]>https://hogewash.com/2017/12/10/are-you-pondering-what-im-pondering-2919/feed/1wjjhogeTwo Views of Jerusalemhttps://hogewash.com/2017/12/10/two-views-of-jerusalem/
https://hogewash.com/2017/12/10/two-views-of-jerusalem/#commentsSun, 10 Dec 2017 14:14:31 +0000http://hogewash.com/?p=54752Continue reading →]]>One point of view concerning President Trumps decision to obey the law and move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem (Congress mandated the move before the turn of the century) is summed up by the headline on a post at Breitbart UnmaskedBunnyBilly Boy Brett Unread: Trump Throws Gasoline on Middle East Fire by Recognizing Jerusalem as Israeli Capital. There’s not much original thought in the BU piece by “Staff Writer”—just a bunch of cut-and-paste from the usual suspects such as CNN and the NYT.

A more insightful view is outlined in a piece over at Bloomberg: Trump Teaches Palestinians About the New Middle East. The article begins by noting that the Sunni Arabs are more concerned about Iran than the West Bank. Indeed, there are signs that the Sunnis are ready to consider a three-way alliance with Israel and the U.S. to roll back Iranian expansion.

And so, Israel’s full participation in the Trump-Sunni project comes at a price. Netanyahu has a vision of how to solve the Palestinian issue. It includes a unified Jerusalem legally belonging to Israel, as well as continued West Bank settlement and, if there ever is a deal, a demilitarized Palestinian entity. The alternative — no deal — is okay with him, too.

Seen this way, Trump’s move today is not a Hanukkah present at all. It is a down payment. How long will it take to build that embassy? Three years? Four? No rush. Time is on Israel’s side.

Read the whole thing.

]]>https://hogewash.com/2017/12/10/two-views-of-jerusalem/feed/8wjjhogeThe Earth and the Moonhttps://hogewash.com/2017/12/10/the-earth-and-the-moon/
https://hogewash.com/2017/12/10/the-earth-and-the-moon/#respondSun, 10 Dec 2017 11:08:41 +0000http://hogewash.com/?p=54743]]>This video was assembled from 52 images taken by the Galileo spacecraft after a gravity assist maneuver around Earth on its way to Jupiter.

Images Credit: NASA, Galileo Project
Processing: Gordan Ugarkovic

]]>https://hogewash.com/2017/12/10/the-earth-and-the-moon/feed/0wjjhogeTeam Kimberlin Post of the Dayhttps://hogewash.com/2017/12/10/team-kimberlin-post-of-the-day-1731/
https://hogewash.com/2017/12/10/team-kimberlin-post-of-the-day-1731/#commentsSun, 10 Dec 2017 05:02:04 +0000http://hogewash.com/?p=54738Continue reading →]]>Four years ago yesterday, the Circuit Court for Carroll County extended the first peace order granted against Bill Schmalfeldt. During the course of the hearing on my petition for the extension, Judge Stansfield patiently explained the law to the Cabin Boy in an attempt to correct his misunderstandings of various points. The next day, Team Kimberlin was on the Twitterz making stupid claims about the law—and that resulted in this Prevarication Du Jour.

* * * * *

Here’s a doozie …

When asked to cite a case where the Supremes had so ruled, the response was …

[crickets].

The reason is quite simple. There is no such ruling; the question hasn’t been considered by the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the applicable case law says the opposite, including Hoge v. Schmalfeldt (Md. Cir.Ct. Carr.Co. 2013) Case No. 06-C-063359 (cert. denied). Schmalfeldt raised the “@mention isn’t contact” argument in paragraph 2 of his Supplement to Petition for a Writ of Certiorari during his appeal in that case. The Court of Appeals didn’t buy it, finding “there is no showing that review by certiorari is desirable or in the public interest.”

A large part of the hopeful confusion among the pro-harassment crowd relied on their focusing on the fact that Internet harassment is specifically covered by a Maryland statute, but the missed the fact that it violates another Maryland law as well, one that can be a trigger for a peace order. That law, the statute dealing with harassment generally, is the one which the Circuit Court found Schmalfeldt transgressed.

There is no safe harbor in Maryland law for harassment via the Internet.

UPDATE—After referring to those questioning his legal scholarship as “lickspittles,” @LibtardMedia has taken his account private. Now, who would call his opponents “lickspittles”?

* * * * *

During the hearing, I stated that I believed that Schmalfeldt would continue to violate the peace order until it was enforced. Alas, everything proceeded as I had foreseen.

The world owes all its onward impulses to men ill at ease. The happy man inevitably confines himself within ancient limits.

—Nathaniel Hawthorne

]]>https://hogewash.com/2017/12/10/quote-of-the-day-2176/feed/0wjjhogeThe Wages of Sin Are Unreportedhttps://hogewash.com/2017/12/09/the-wages-of-sin-are-unreported/
https://hogewash.com/2017/12/09/the-wages-of-sin-are-unreported/#commentsSat, 09 Dec 2017 20:11:11 +0000http://hogewash.com/?p=54747]]>Read the whole thing.]]>https://hogewash.com/2017/12/09/the-wages-of-sin-are-unreported/feed/2wjjhogeAre You Pondering What I’m Pondering?https://hogewash.com/2017/12/09/are-you-pondering-what-im-pondering-2918/
https://hogewash.com/2017/12/09/are-you-pondering-what-im-pondering-2918/#commentsSat, 09 Dec 2017 17:00:50 +0000http://hogewash.com/?p=54736]]>I think so, Brain … but if he were any more famous, his picture would be on the wall in the Post Office.]]>https://hogewash.com/2017/12/09/are-you-pondering-what-im-pondering-2918/feed/1wjjhogeThanks for the Linkshttps://hogewash.com/2017/12/09/thanks-for-the-links-225/
https://hogewash.com/2017/12/09/thanks-for-the-links-225/#respondSat, 09 Dec 2017 13:46:59 +0000http://hogewash.com/?p=54734Continue reading →]]>A significant number of page views here at Hogewash! come from outside links. I’d like to thank those sites that have sent viewers this way during the past week. In addition to hits from search engines, Gab, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, Hogewash! has had visitors linked from: